Victory aiming to cement spot at top of W-League

Emily Gielnik has rarely been in a better space.

The 26-year-old Melbourne Victory and Matildas striker is at the top of her game and her team are on top of the league.

She is still buzzing from her time with the Matildas – when she scored that cracking goal in the 5-0 rout of Chile in Newcastle – and from Victory's 2-0 derby win over Melbourne City last week.

And if that's not enough, she is pumped and primed for Sunday's Big Blue double header in Sydney when Victory take on the Sky Blue equivalent as a prelude to the A-League fixture.

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Victory's W-League side has never had a better start to the season and Gielnik, who joined to link up with her mentor, Victory coach and former Brisbane boss Jeff Hopkins, feels things can only get better.

She was delighted with her team's performance against reigning champions City as it prepares for the clash against last season's beaten grand finalists, even if she felt she might have done more.

Looking back on that game as she prepared for the weekend, Gielnik said: "I felt I should have taken more advantage of my opportunities, I wanted a bit more of the ball, a bit more one v one, a bit more crosses."

It's the sort of language that comes from a striker hungry for chances and brimming with confidence.

Victory turned the tables on City with their workrate and defensive concentration, and that is what they will need to do against Sydney. Not that they are taking anything for granted.

"We try not to read into the table too much. The first two games we were getting settled in. Everyone wants to be top of the table. The big picture now is not get ahead of ourselves," Gielnik said.

"I love being the underdog, not going in as the favourite. Sydney is, for me, just another team, like City was. We should look at other teams being a bit scared of us now. We should worry less about other teams and more about how we are going to play.

"Sydney have great players up front, all Matildas and a couple of Americans. But if we focus too much on individual brilliance we will undo ourselves and not focus on our performance."

Gielnik says that her latest involvement with the national team really lifted her confidence.

"I wanted the Matildas game to continue. I got 32 minutes, not that I am counting, but it was 20 minutes more than the last time, so I was pretty happy. I hadn't scored for my country for a long time. I felt really good out there and I wish it was a bit longer.

"Just being in the Matildas' training camp, the presence there, the confidence it gives you, the intensity, the atmosphere, and I feel that just scoring that goal and leaving the camp the way I did I brought that tempo here to Victory. I think the Matildas camp really rubbed off on me and I brought that high tempo back to the club."

Gielnik is in her first season with Victory, and she readily admits that it was the presence of coach Hopkins that lured her south.

"When I first got into W-League eight or so years ago, Jeff was the Brisbane coach. I was in the grandstands trying to prove myself to him," she said.

"He was my worst nightmare back then, I was trying so hard pushing for a spot, doing everything I could, and that's why I have the utmost respect for him because he really made me earn my spot playing for Roar for the last eight years.

"I told my parents that if I ever went anywhere or changed clubs, it would only be for Jeff … He has had a big influence on me, and a lot of my good friends and people I have played with said he brings the best out of me football-wise.

"When he approached me to originally play for the club I said no, but he knew my big picture, going to play in World Cup in France, and he wanted the best for me. He was so genuine and I thought I just have to change something because I have to evolve as a player, and I reflected on my past few seasons [and made the change] and I am really happy."

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